10 posts tagged “pedro martinez”

But first, a quick rundown of the LCS predictions I made and how they turned out.

Round 1 of the 2009 MLB Playoffs has completed, and I did not do very well in my predictions, which you can point and laugh at here.

Of course, predictions are just that. Results you expect to occur, hopefully with some rhyme and reason to back it all up. Whether they actually become reality or not, is a whole nother story.

So first, a little wrap-up of the ALDS and NLDS before moving onto the ALCS and NLDS.

Reality: Yankees in 3 games

The only prediction that I got right, and I suspect that a lot of people got right too. The Twins weren't good enough to compete with the Bombers, and even during the games that they might have actually taken from the Yanks, they couldn't win. Game 2 was the ultimate in that case, with the Phil Cuzzi blown call in leftfield taking center stage, but the Twins had numerous opportunities to score in that game and never did.

Closer Joe Nathan continued his terrible postseason by giving up a game-tying HR in the bottom of the 9th of Game 2 to A-Rod, and also gave up 2 hits to the Yankees in the 9th inning of Game 3. Those hits led to 2 Yankee runs which were charged to other Twins relievers, but Nathan couldn't stop the Yankees from scoring. As great as Joe Nathan is during the regular season, he's been quite awful in the postseason, posting a 7.88 ERA.

After losing the first game of the doubleheader earlier today by a final score of 5-4, the Mets look for a split of the doubleheader as well as a split of this 4-game series against the Philadelphia Phillies. This is the final game between the two teams of the season, which is likely why it was scheduled as ESPN's Sunday Night game. ESPN of course, can't be thrilled that this game has zero postseason implications, but that's what happens when you schedule certain things prior to the season.

Depending upon the result of this game, the Mets will have finished their season series against the Phillies with a final record of either 7-11, or 6-12.

Game 2 of the matchup pits Tim Redding (2-5) 5.78 ERA against Pedro Martinez (4-0) 3.64 ERA in 6 starts. Pedro's worst start of the season came on August 23 against the Mets in which he gave up 4 ER in 6 IP, but still got the W due to Philly's offense handing him a 9-7 victory.

What's been extremely impressive this season with Pedro is that he has only walked 4 batters in 29.2 IP. With 27 K over that timespan, Pedro has exceeded all reasonable expectations so far. But can his arm make it into October?

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(All times Pacific)

Top of 1st Inning:
5:09pm: Luis Castillo slaps a liner into left-center field for a leadoff single. ESPN announcers Joe Morgan, Jon Miller and Steve Phillips argue about the description of Castillo's hit. Is it a flare? A slap? A solid hit?

5:12pm: Cory Sullivan flies out to CF Shane Victorino. Castillo cannot advance. 1 out.

5:14pm: David Wright strikes out swinging at a high and outside fastball. 2 outs.

5:15pm: Steve Phillips points out what most rational people already know. No team could survive the number of injuries the Mets have had to their major players (Reyes, Beltran, Delgado) and still compete. Of the big 3 injuries, only Beltran has returned, and it's too late. Many other players have also gone down with injury as we well know (ie: Johan Santana, Alex Cora, Oliver Perez, Fernando Nieve, Jonathon Niese, etc.)

5:16pm: Carlos Beltran walks. Luis Castillo moves to 2nd base.

5:19pm: Daniel Murphy strikes out swinging at a wicked curveball from Pedro Martinez. 3 outs.

Bottom of 1st Inning:
5:23pm: Tim Redding gives up a leadoff walk to Jimmy Rollins on a 3-1 count.

5:25pm: Shane Victorino lines a single into leftfield. Jimmy Rollins moves to 2nd base on the hit.

5:30pm: Chase Utley smashes a long flyball off the top of the LF wall just beyond the reach of Fernando Tatis for a long long single since Jimmy Rollins thought the ball might be caught by Tatis and held up at 2nd base before scoring. Carlos Beltran retrieved the ball in left-center. Shane Victorino moves up to 2nd base on the play. 1-0 Phillies.

5:33pm: Ryan Howard hits a soft liner right at 2B Luis Castillo for the out. Castillo shuffles the ball to Anderson Hernandez at 2nd base hoping to double off Shane Victorino but he's back safe. 1 out.

5:36pm: Raul Ibanez hits a high flyball to CF Carlos Beltran. 2 outs.

5:41pm: Jayson Werth strikes out swinging at a 3-2 curveball and Tim Redding escapes the jam giving up only 1 earned run, although it took him 33 pitches to get through the inning. 3 outs.

Top of 2nd Inning:
5:44pm: Fernando Tatis never took the bat off his shoulder in this AB, watching 5 pitches go by, 3 of them for strikes. 1 out.

5:45pm: Brian Schneider ropes a first-pitch into rightfield for a single.

5:46pm: ESPN cameras are showing Tatis in the Mets tunnel with trainer Ray Ramirez checking out his left hand/arm which he may have injured in the 1st inning when he leaped into the wall on Utley's long single that just missed clearing the fence. He may be out for the rest of the game.

5:47pm: Anderson Hernandez lines a single past 1B Ryan Howard into rightfield. Brian Schneider makes it to 3rd base on the hit.

5:48pm: Tim Redding lays down a sac bunt to the 1st base side of the diamond. The ball is fielded by Pedro Martinez who throws down to Chase Utley covering 1st base for the out. 1-4. 2 outs. Anderson Hernandez moves to 2nd base on the sac bunt.

5:49pm: Luis Castillo gets drilled in the right elbow by a Pedro Martinez pitch and he's hopping around in immense pain before falling to the ground. Mets trainers along with manager Jerry Manuel are out to check on Luis.

5:51pm: While Castillo tries to recover, we're shown a stat that the Mets have had players spend 1,007 days on the DL, more than any other team in baseball by a wide margin. Luis Castillo is ok, and finally gets to 1B. The bases are loaded with 2 outs for Daniel Murphy.

5:53pm: Daniel Murphy flies out to LF Raul Ibanez. 3 outs.

Bottom of 2nd Inning:
5:56pm: Jeremy Reed is in LF to replace Fernando Tatis.

5:57pm: Pedro Feliz pounds the ball onto the left-centerfield warning track for a leadoff double. ESPN announcers Jon Miller and Joe Morgan think Tim Redding got screwed by the home plate ump on the previous pitch that should've been called a strike instead of a ball. They're right.

5:59pm: Redding attempts a pickoff of Feliz at 2B but no dice.

6:00pm: Carlos Ruiz hits a weak grounder to 3B David Wright who makes a clean throw to 1B Daniel Murphy for the out. Feliz does not advance on the play. 5-3. 1 out.

6:01pm: Pedro Martinez grounds out to SS Anderson Hernandez, 6-3. Feliz moves to 3rd base on the play. 2 outs.

6:03pm: Jimmy Rollins flies out to LF Jeremy Reed. 3 outs.

Top of 3rd Inning:
6:05pm: David Wright is at the plate against Pedro Martinez for the first time ever. Well, that would make sense considering they've been teammates since 2005 up until this year, and David was on the DL the last time Pedro faced the Mets on August 23.

6:06pm: Pedro wins that battle getting Wright swinging at a full count 91 MPH fastball that is tipped but caught by catcher Carlos Ruiz. 1 out.

6:08pm: Carlos Beltran grounds out hard right to 1B Ryan Howard, who runs to the bag himself to get the out. 2 outs.

6:09pm: Daniel Murphy flies out to SS Jimmy Rollins in short leftfield. 3 up, 3 down.

Bottom of 3rd Inning:
6:12pm: Shane Victorino hits a weak chopper back to the mound. Tim Redding fields it and throws to Murphy at 1B for the out. 1-3. 1 out.

6:14pm: Chase Utley strikes out swinging at the high heat. 2 outs.

6:17pm: Tim Redding gets Ryan Howard to strike out swinging at the high heat on a full count. 3 outs.

Top of 4th Inning:
6:20pm: Jon Miller reports that the injury to Fernando Tatis was a sprained index finger on his left hand.

6:21pm: Jeremy Reed strikes out swinging at a fastball.  1 out.

6:22pm: Brian Schneider hits a hard grounder right to 1B Ryan Howard. He takes the ball to the bag for the out. 2 outs.

6:24pm: Anderson Hernandez flies out to SS Jimmy Rollins in shallow leftfield. 3 outs. Pedro is starting to cruise along in this game with 5 Ks in 4 IP.

Bottom of 4th Inning:
6:27pm: Raul Ibanez skies out to CF Carlos Beltran in right-centerfield. 1 out.

6:29pm: Jayson Werth smokes a ball right into the mitt of SS Anderson Hernandez. 2 outs.

6:30pm: Pedro Feliz grounds out to 3B David Wright. 5-3. 3 outs. That was 9 pitches for Redding, who has definitely settled in. Problem is, so has Pedro, and Tim Redding is usually garbage after 5 IP.

Top of 5th Inning:
6:33pm: Tim Redding grounds out to SS Jimmy Rollins. 6-3. 1 out. That makes 8 Met batters in a row retired by Pedro Martinez.

6:34pm: Luis Castillo is up with a little padding above his right elbow. However, he lines out to 2B Chase Utley. 2 outs.

6:35pm: Cory Sullivan tries to check his swing at a low pitch but he makes contact. The ball goes right back to Pedro Martinez on the ground, he throws to first. 1-3. 3 outs.

Bottom of 5th Inning:

The Texas Rangers are the ultimate in polar opposites, making for a .500 record of 34-34.

They are the best hitting team in MLB (Josh Hamilton, Ian Kinsler, Michael Young, Milton Bradley).
And they also have the worst pitching in MLB. (Kevin Millwood, Vicente Padilla (default ace), Scott Feldman, Kason Gabbard).

They even have a manager in Ron Washington who weathered an early headhunting this season as many were calling for his firing.

The good news is that the Mets starting pitching has been ranged anywhere from adequate (Maine, Pedro) to good (Perez) to fantastic (Pelfrey, Santana) over the past 9 games.

The bad news is the Mets' bullpen. A 4.14 bullpen ERA is 13th in the NL. In losing six of their last seven, the relievers have a 7.43 ERA, and Wagner is 0-1 with a 23.14 ERA in his last three appearances.

The Mets are 4-7 in June going into the series against the Rangers, and they're in desperate need of series wins. After winning series against Florida, Los Angeles and San Francisco, going 7-3 over those games, the team then lost 6 out of 7 games, losing 4 straight to San Diego and dropping 2 out of 3 to Arizona.

The pitching matchups definitely favor the Mets, even with the shaky bullpen that has reared its head over the past week. The problem is offense. The Mets bats are wildly inconsistent and sputter to score runs and there's no rhyme nor reason as to when/why their bats will heat up or cool down. Texas doesn't have that problem.

It goes without saying that the Mets must win this series before they go back on the road to face an extremely tough AL West-leading Angels, and another 3 against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field in Denver. The same very weak NL West basement-dwelling team that took 2 of 3 from New York over Memorial Day Weekend.

The season isn't over yet, but the clock is ticking for the turnaround.

As mentioned in the last entry, we stayed down in San Diego for the weekend to see the Mets play the Padres on Saturday night and Sunday day at PETCO park for the final 2 games of the 4-game series.

I decided to stay at the Manchester Grand Hyatt for a night, which is also where the New York Mets team stays when in San Diego. It's about a 15-minute walk to PETCO park, and I was told (whether true or not, who knows) that David Wright had walked to the ballpark himself without any entourage on Saturday.

I'm not an autograph hound nor a groupie, and I don't bother pro athletes, or even Hollywood celebrities, and lord knows I've worked with many through the years. But I thought it would be fun to, on the off chance, hang out with millionaires in a hotel bar as well as other Met fans. And well, we didn't really "hang out" with them, but did see a lot of the team after the 2-1 loss on Saturday night at the hotel.

If you're looking for crazy gossip or wild tales of 1986 Mets-like partying, you will be disappointed.

Here's how it went down:

The 10-inning game ended at about 10:15pm. Got back to the hotel around 10:35pm, and hung out in the hotel bar area for a while.

Some other Met fans were there as well, trying to get autographs and pictures. One guy was in town from NY for a conference, and was very eager to get autographed baseballs for his daughter back on Long Island. Speaking of Long Island, his accent made me want to plug my ears with shot glasses.

There were a few other fans milling about, but not a lot by any stretch.

Moises Alou was the first person we saw, just meandering about the hotel lobby before the team bus came by. He apparently told some other fan, who later told me, that he'd be back playing on Tuesday against Arizona. We'll see...

Then we saw Keith Hernandez and some other SNY folk who I'm not really familiar with since I don't get SNY in L.A. I imagine Gary Cohen was one of them.

I then saw Brian Schneider with his parents. I also saw Oliver Perez walking through the lobby with cellphone attached to ear. I told him, "Good pitching tonight!" and he thanked me but kept walking.

Then the team bus came in at around 11:15pm-ish? It was a lot of the team including Jose Reyes, Luis Castillo, Raul Casanova, Ramon Castro, Endy Chavez, Damion Easley, Carlos Beltran, etc. I imagine there were others but we either didn't see them, or simply didn't recognize them.

I think every player who got off the bus went into the elevators up to their rooms. I can't say with certainty they didn't go out later, but we didn't see them leave, and didn't hear reports from any other people that they were seen again.

I heard later on that David Wright showed up and was apparently one of the few who was willing to sign things for a couple of fans. The other players didn't stop, although to be fair, I didn't see anyone try and stop them either. The aforementioned Long Islander showed me an autographed baseball that was made out to his daughter personally by David. Not something you can sell on Ebay, so his heart was in the right place. Success!

After the players contingent, we then saw Willie Randolph, Jerry Manuel and Sandy Alomar walk through the lobby together. A couple of fans told Willie "We'll get 'em tomorrow!" and of course Willie could only agree. I told him "No friggin sweeps!" and he chuckled.

They also went off to the elevators, presumably up to the rooms, never seen again that night.

At the hotel bar, the following Mets personnel...

• Carlos Delgado was at a table with his parents. Papa Delgado is morbidly obese in his mid 60's. I hope Carlos doesn't follow down the same path. Pedro Feliciano later joined the table and remained after Carlos had left. Feliciano ended up talking to Papa Delgado for a bit, and later spoke with Scott Schoeneweis before calling it a night.
• Brian Schneider was at a table with his parents.
• Hitting Coach Howard Johnson and his wife were sitting at a table with a bunch of people. I'm not positive, but I think Mets media director Jay Horowitz was among them.
  
• Scott Schoeneweis was at a table with his parents. One Met fan was talking to them because she grew up in the same town of Medford, NJ that Scott did. I think she may have talked to his parents more than Scott, but they were all very nice from what I heard.
  
• Oliver Perez was at a table with a bunch of people no one recognized, presumably people he knew from his days of playing with the Padres. I remember glancing at their table at one point and saw a lot of empty beer bottles all around. But hey, he pitched well and deserved a little relaxation time.
• Duaner Sanchez provided the closest thing to "gossip" that night, as he was talking up this very attractive Latina at the bar as he was drinking white wine. We couldn't figure out if she was his girlfriend, or he had just met her. It was funny because just like real life for the rest of us poor people, when talking to a hot broad, you still have to deal with her ugly friends. Poor Duaner. No idea if Dirty did the deed.

All the players had wrapped up their socializing by around 1am, and called it a night since they had to be at the ballpark by 10am the next morning. I've since read that Ramon Castro didn't make it there on time and was benched for sleeping late.

From what we witnessed at the hotel bar, fans were very respectful of the players and didn't bother any of them.

We did not see Billy Wagner, Mike Pelfrey, Joe Smith or Aaron Heilman at any point in the hotel. Actually, if I haven't mentioned their name already, I didn't see them nor hear that anyone else did. Or maybe simply didn't recognize them.

We were told by other fans that they got autographs from Pedro Martinez and Johan Santana prior to them leaving for the ballpark on Saturday.

All in all, it was a nice experience, which would've been a lot nicer had the Mets swept the Padres, and not vice versa.

After losing Thursday and Friday's games by a score of 2-1 to the Padres, the Mets offense desperately needed to come through.

Saturday night pitted erratic Mets lefty Oliver Perez against 5th starter Cha Seung Baek. Oliver Perez rebounded very well from his implosion against San Francisco on June 2, going 5.1 IP, giving up 4 H, 2 BB, 5 K, 1 ER which was a solo HR from Padre catcher Michael Barrett in the 5th inning.

The Mets were able to score their lone run in the 2nd after Endy Chavez hit a sac fly to leftfield with bases loaded. Beltran scored on the play, and the runners advanced on the throwing error courtesy of Padres leftfielder Justin Huber which was wayyyyyy up the 1st base line.

And the problem is, that's the only run the Mets scored. Three nights in a row, they scored 1 run. Is it any surprise they don't win these games?

The Mets had many other chances to take advantage of Padres pitching, but failed to deliver.

2nd inning: After Chavez's sac fly, catcher Brian Schneider was intentionally walked since 1st base was empty in order to get to pitcher Oliver Perez. He fouled out to 3B Kevin Kooooooozmanoff, and Jose Reyes grounded out. Only 1 run scored in the inning.

The team also had runners in scoring position during the 3rd and 5th innings, though both times with 2 out. They could not convert the runs.

On the pitching side of things, the Mets bullpen kept them in the ballgame, as did San Diego's. Manager Willie Randolph used his bullpen as effectively as possible, making the right decisions every time. He removed Perez in the 6th inning after Perez had put two runners by hitting them with a pitch. With 1 out in the inning, Joe Smith came in to undo the damage, but even he ended up hitting SS Khalil Greene with a pitch to load the bases.

Smith got pinch-hitter Tony Clark to ground to Carlos Delgado, who threw home to Brian Schneider for the forceout. Smith then got Michael Barrett to strike out swinging to end the inning.

Met relievers Scott Schoeneweis and Duaner Sanchez combined to pitch 3 scoreless innings before Pedro Feliciano threw 1 pitch to Scott Hairston in the 10th inning which ended up landing in the left-centerfield bleachers to win the game.

The part of the game where the Mets COMPLETELY blew it, was in the 10th inning.

With Padres reliever Mike Adams on the mound, Luis Castillo took a leadoff walk. Those usually come back to get a lot of pitchers.

David Wright had the chance to move Castillo over, or even in. But David struck out.

Castillo got himself to 2nd base by stealing it himself.

Carlos Beltran struck out.

Carlos Delgado was given an intentional pass, and pinch-hitting was the "threat to no one with a bat," Raul Casanova. It was at this stage that lefty Ryan Church would've been a perfect pinch-hitter, but the fact that he wasn't, spoke volumes about his current medical condition.

Casanova of course, grounded out to shortstop to end the inning.

What Pedro Feliciano did afterwards, was practically inconsequential. When you're the home team in extra innings, you have the advantage. And at least in this game, unlike Thursday night when Scott Schoeneweis gave the ballgame away by hitting a batter, Feliciano got beat by a Hairston HR swing. And in that situation, you tip your cap to Hairston.

But the Mets should have scored more than once.

Even more frustrating, was that not only did I get to "witness history" in that the Padres became the first team in MLB history to win 4 consecutive games by a 2-1 score (one against the Cubs, 3 against the Mets), but they got solid starting pitching performances from Mike Pelfrey, Johan Santana, and Oliver Perez.

Jose Reyes was 0-for-5. Carlos Beltran and David Wright each had a single, but both struck out once, in the aforementioned 10th inning with go-ahead runner Luis Castillo on base.

The only bright spot in the game? Carlos Delgado continues to hit, as he went 3-for-4 with 2 singles, a double, a K and an IBB. If only he can find that power swing that made him a force to be reckoned with.

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Sunday's game had to be better. After all, Pedro Martinez would be pitching! It was funny how a few people at the hotel kept saying, "Well we'll win tomorrow cause Pedro will save us." And I responded, "Have you seen the games lately? Starting pitching isn't exactly the issue right now."

As long as the team didn't lose another 2-1 game, things had to look up. They just had to.

And for a while, they did.

Pedro Martinez was staked to a 3-0 lead in the 1st. While Jose Reyes couldn't get on base, Padres starter Wil Ledezma walked Luis Castillo and David Wright. What did Carlos Beltran do in this situation? Oh he flied out for the second out.

Damion Easley singled to centerfield to score Luis Castillo. And then Carlos Delgado roped a TRIPLE to rightfield which scored Wright and Easley. Yes, Carlos Delgado, triple. You read that right.

But then the Padres struck back with 3 of their own. One of those runs came off a bases loaded BALK from Pedro, which I think all the umpires simultaneously called. A nearby fan told us they saw Pedro's hands go together and then come apart without him stepping off. Why Pedro flinched in this situation, who knows.

I should mention that Endy Chavez nailed Edgar Gonzalez with a perfect throw to David Wright, as Gonzalez tried to take third base after Brian Giles' single. The damage could've been even worse for Pedro if not for that play.

In the 2nd inning, the Mets showed some aggressiveness on the basepaths when Endy Chavez and Jose Reyes did the double steal of destiny, taking 3rd and 2nd respectively with 1 out. Luis Castillo's sac fly scored Chavez. David Wright failed in the clutch again as he flied to centerfield for the 3rd out.

Pedro didn't pitch too well today, going 5 IP, giving up 10 H, 4 ER, 0 BB, 4 K. Not a Pedro-like outing. But despite his pitching, the offense was doing something they hadn't been doing the last 3 games. They were scoring runs.

Claudio Vargas and Scott Schoeneweis each pitched an inning of scoreless relief.

The Mets scored their 6th run when Carlos Delgado scored from 3rd base on an Endy Chavez bunt single with 2 out. The Mets were doing everything right. Bullpen? Check. Aggressive on the basepaths? Check. Delgado a homerun short of the cycle? Check!

But then the 8th inning came... and everything changed for the worse. A lot worse.

Met Reliever Duaner Sanchez gave up a leadoff double to rookie callup Craig Stansberry. He then struck out righty Khalil Greene, walked switch-hitting backup backup catcher Luke Carlin (who was hitting lefty in the AB), and struck out righty Scott Hairston, denying Hairston the opportunity to be a hero two games in a row.

Willie Randolph went to the bullpen to closer Billy Wagner, to face lefty Jody Gerut. Wagner has been great this season, only giving up 1 ER so far. Surely with 2 out, and Wagner on the hill, this 6-4 lead was safe.

Except Jody Gerut singled to right-center to score Craig Stansberry. The score was now 6-5.

Padre manager then went to his bench, using switch-hitter Tony Clark. Over the past 3 seasons, Clark has been absolutely terrible when hitting from the right side. His power comes from his left side, so Wagner was clearly going to dominate this matchup and hold onto the 1-run lead.

Ex-Met, Ex-Yankee, Ex-Diamondback, Ex-Tiger, Ex-Red Sox... Tony Clark. Even Padre fans around us didn't care for him, as he's been pretty bad for them all season so far.

Except on Sunday, Tony Clark was the hero. He took Wagner's 96 MPH fastball and belted a 414-ft blast to straight-away centerfield, putting the Padres ahead 8-6.

And what can you do but shake your head and scream in anger? The normally dominant-closer lost a battle to someone he shouldn't have. Tony Clark is not Albert Pujols. He's not even Adrian Gonzalez.

But on Sunday, Tony Clark was the man. Billy Wagner was not.

I'm sure as angry as I was, Willie Randolph was probably even more pissed off. The team was finally hitting, the bullpen was doing a decent job, and the Mets looked like they were going to at least leave San Diego with one win before the trip home.

It didn't happen. "Hells Bells" closer Trevor Hoffman came in for the 1-2-3 9th and recorded his 14th save of the year.

The Mets got swept. They lost 2-1, 2-1, 2-1, and 8-6. And strangely, the 8-6 loss hurt the most, because it occurred in the most improbable fashion to a team that had no business winning the series, nevermind sweeping it.

This team clearly has problems:

• Ryan Church is a complete unknown at this point.
  
• Endy Chavez is great on defense, not so great on offense, although he did hit well in the San Diego series, going 5-for-14 with 2 RBIs.
  
• Fernando Tatis had a couple of clutch hits during the Marlins series weeks back. But he's been terrible since.
• David Wright and Carlos Beltran are supposed to be the power of the team, and they're not providing it. Especially Beltran, who struck out three fucking times on Sunday. Both went hitless, but at least Wright drew two walks.
• On a more macro scale, when they pitch well, they don't hit. When they hit, they don't pitch well. And that was the exact story of the Padres series. Now spread that over the season, and you have a team that is now two games under .500.
  

This was my third trip in 5 seasons to see the Mets play the Padres at PETCO Park. Though this is the first time we stayed overnight. For most people in Los Angeles, it's about a 2.5-hour trip down when you factor in traffic.

Unlike other places (ahem, Dodger Stadium), the fans are by and large very friendly. Lots of families, lots of older people, and even some younger ones too. It's a good crowd, perhaps in some ways uninterested and apathetic, but I've never had a bad experience there as a fan of the opposition.

And what's more, there were plenty of Met fans around to support their team. A lot of people we spoke with over the weekend said that PETCO and AT&T Park (San Francisco) are the nicest ballparks in the bigs. While I have yet to go to places like Camden Yards, Nationals Park, Turner Field, (it's a long list now that so many older parks I've been to are gone), the Padres organization and the city of San Diego really put together an excellent stadium. The prices are right, the atmosphere is good, and they've even put a competitive team on the field the last couple of seasons.

Although I did have a pretzel there with the most awful mustard ever known to mankind.

I'll always hold a fondness for Wrigley Field, but PETCO and AT&T Parks are excellent places to catch a baseball game, no matter who is playing.

The Mets begin the month of June at 27-27, a record which needs to improve substantially for the team to make a run at the playoffs come October.

The good news is that Pedro Martinez comes back to pitch against San Francisco on June 3. The team can't afford to lose him again.
Ryan Church is (allegedly) healthy and free of post-concussion symptoms.
Moises Alou should be ready to go again on Thursday when the Mets open up the series against San Diego.

June is a month in which the Mets schedule should be one they can take advantage of as 21 of 28 games will be played against teams that have a .500 record or worse. The 7 "tough" games will be 3 against Arizona at Shea, 3 against the Angels in Anaheim, 1 against St. Louis at the end of the month which is the beginning of 4 games with the Cardinals that goes into July.

The team went 14-12 in April (plus March 31), but finished 13-15 in May.

The month of June is going to be boon or gloom. Feast or famine. They will be playing teams like Colorado, San Francisco and San Diego in the laughable NL West division, although all on the road. These are all absolute must-win series, if not series sweeps.

Another month of 14-14 baseball is not going to cut the mustard. This Mets team has the talent, but they're going to need to go 20-8 over the next month or the 2008 season basically ends for the Mets before the All-Star break.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2682818

Good thing. The Mets hand Tommy $10.5 million for one year (as opposed to the $13 million on his option, which they declined), the Braves don't get him, and Glavine will more than likely get his 300th win as a Met.

So far, the 2007 starting rotation is still questionable. With Pedro out until around June, they are still in dire need of another ace. Glavine was THE MAN in the 2006 postseason, but it was the Mets' bats which were the real problem against the Cardinals.

So far, the rotation is as follows (in all likelihood)

1. Tom Glavine
2. Orlando "El Douche" Hernandez
3. Oliver Perez
4. John Maine
5. ???? (Brian Bannister, Mike Pelfrey, Alay Soler, any number of guys in the minors)

or #5 could be, Barry Zito. Except he really wouldn't be #5, he'd be the #1. But you get the picture.

Since I work,  I don't get to see the playoff games during the week. This sucks major ass. But I have been catching the highlights on ESPN and reading the recaps on various sites. As such, I can't go into too much detail about games I didn't see, but here are my thoughts in brief digestable recap form:

Cardinals-Padres Game 1:
So much for my prediction of a Padres revenge sweep. Jake Peavy didn't seem to have his A-game, maybe due to that blister on his finger giving him trouble?
On the other side of the fence, Chris Carpenter was absolutely phenomenal, giving up 1 ER in 6 IP. The Padres don't have a great offense by any stretch, but their pitching was supposed to carry them. It wasn't to be in game 1.

Twins-A's Game 1:
Speaking of pitching not meant to be, Cy Young shoo-in Johan Santana was outpitched at the Metrodome by A's pitcher Barry Zito. A close 3-2 score, with the A's offense being carried by 2 Frank Thomas slammalammadingdongs. But this is how it has been for Oakland all season. Their amazing pitching carries them through despite having the weakest offense in the AL. I could swear it's even weaker overall than basement teams like Kansas City and Tampa Bay, but don't hold me to that.

I think anyone who was looking at this series figured Santana would be likely to win his 2 starts. Not the case so far. Game 2's starters are Boof Bonser (yes, that's his name) for Minnesota, and Oakland's weakest starter Esteban Loaiza. Anything can happen in that one, but you'd hope Minnesota can leave the state with a win in hand.

Yankees-Tigers Game 1:
No surprises here. Derek Jeter solidifies his name as the new Mr. October (supplanting Reggie Jackson) going 5-for-5 with a solo shot. Abreu picked up 4 RBIs. Wang outpitches Robertson, Yankees roll.

Christ I hate those fuckwads with an inexplicable passion. Die Yankees. Just fucking die.

Mets get bad news about El Douche.
Orlando Hernandez hurt himself sprinting during practice making him highly unlikely to start game 1. 

Not good.

El Douche has a plethora of postseason experience with the Yankees as well as the 2005 Chicago White Sox. While he's definitely not the pitcher he used to be, the intangible of postseason success generally counts for something. It's why Derek Jeter comes through in the clutch for the Yankees, and A-Rod doesn't.

The Mets' starting rotation was a huge question mark from the pre-season. What if this team got to the postseason, and how would they get through it when Pedro and Glavine weren't pitching? Well Pedro is gone, and now El Douche is probably out for at least one start, possibly more.

The Mets' options are not great right now. The good news is that the Mets had been semi-auditioning pitchers like Dave Williams and Oliver Perez through most of August and September. Williams has performed much better than anyone had a right to expect, with the exception of one bad start. Oliver Perez, obtained as a part of the Xavier Nady trade, was terrible with the exception of one amazing start against the Braves in September.

What's left is Tom Glavine (who will pitch game 2), Steve Trachsel (the very model of inconsistency), and John Maine (the promising rookie who often succumbs to the longball). And then it's the aforementioned Williams and Perez.

More than ever, the Mets are going to HAVE to rely on the offense to come through. Reyes is going to need to tear up the basepaths. Lo Duca is going to need to move him over. The heart of that order (Beltran, Delgado, Wright,  Valentin, Floyd/Green) is going to have supply a lot of power, most notably in the considerably weaker #7 slot. Endy Chavez is going to have to continue to get on base.

It's all very basic common sense, except magnified exponentially under the spotlight of the postseason, and moreso without the ace pitching that basically clinched them the division back in June.

Finally, anyone got some Dodgers-Mets tickets for me at Dodgers Stadium this weekend? LETS GO METS!!